» Canadian woman survives being cut in half to beat 'untreatable' bone cancer

Canadian woman survives being cut in half to beat 'untreatable' bone cancer

Published: Thursday, September 23, 2010, 14:36 [IST]

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London, Sept 23 (ANI): A mother of two in Canada has become the first person to survive being cut in half after she was diagnosed with an "untreatable" form of bone cancer.

Janis Ollson, 31, discovered she was suffering from sarcoma, a form of bone cancer that cannot be treated with chemotherapy or radiotherapy, when she was pregnant with her second child.hen she started having severe back pains she visited her doctor, who discovered a tumour, which was described as the biggest ever seen.

Experts in Toronto, Canada, initially told Ollson that there was nothing that could be done for her.

But after a consultation at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota, surgeons suggested a groundbreaking procedure, which involved removing the tumour, the lower half of her spine, her left leg and part of her pelvis.

It was the first time the surgery had ever been attempted on a living human being.

Having agreed to undergo the drastic surgery, Ollson's family and friends proceeded to raise 20,000 dollars to cover her family's travel and living expenses for the 52 days she spent at the clinic.

The initial operation to remove the tumour and parts of her body took 20 hours, 12 specialists and 20 units of blood, and after a week's rest she underwent a second operation which took eight hours and more than 240 staples to put her back together again.

The surgeon reassembled her by attaching the leg bone to her spine with pins and screws, close to her centre, which gave the procedure its name: the "pogo stick" process.

Now three years later, after an intensive period of rehabilitation, Ollson says there is little that holds her back.

"Where we live, we use ATVs and snowmobiles. I use my ATV to take my daughter to school. There really isn't a whole lot that stops me," the Daily Mail quoted her as saying.